Balachandran V starts with a simple question: are grains of sand or drops of water each different from the next? The speaker admits he doesn't know. Snowflakes, though, he is sure about, and he uses their uniqueness to talk about people, who also differ from one another.
The comparison deepens in the second stanza. Like snowflakes, humans seem to appear from nowhere, yet come from the same source, then fall and land in different places: on a rock, in a glacier, on a riverbank. The last image is the most personal, a snowflake resting on the speaker's own beard. It makes the idea feel immediate, as though he is watching it happen.
The final lines are short and quiet. Clinging on "for a brief while" before melting into nothingness, we are left with a calm but sombre mood. The speaker seems to accept that life is brief, while still finding something tender in its individuality.